A Certain Magical Index: The Primal Spirit Descends to My Side

Inside the dark room, only moonlight streamed in through the window, illuminating the black space in a gray hue. Behind me stood an iron door, and something seemed to be visible through the peephole.

Misaka Mikoto stood in front of the door, trying to look away, but her eyes seemed to ignore her and turned straight to the cat's eye.

There is an eye there.

"ah--!"

Misaka Mikoto stood in the corridor of Tokiwadai Middle School. The morning sunlight should have shone brightly, but all the windows were shrouded in a layer of grayish-white mist. The light passed through the mist, turning into a viscous substance somewhere between a solid and a liquid, slowly flowing onto the floor.

Then she saw it.

There are eyes on the wall.

They weren't painted on; those eyes were embedded in the wall, their pupils following her movements. The eyeballs were wet, as if just pulled from some liquid. She took a step forward, and all the eyeballs on either side of the corridor turned to her.

She started running, her Tokiwadai summer uniform clinging to her back, her shirt soaked with sweat. She ran past classroom after classroom, every window, every door, every pane of glass offering only her eyes.

"Don't look at me..."

She heard her own voice, but it didn't sound like her. It was too thin, too high-pitched, as if it were being squeezed from someone else's throat.

Then she looked down and saw that eyes had also grown on her arm. The eyeballs were moving under her skin, the pupils aimed at her face.

The screen is torn.

"—!"

The swimming pool at Tokiwadai Middle School was as still as a mirror, reflecting the lights of the locker room. She saw herself standing inside, but her reflection in the water seemed to be smiling. Not smiling at her, but at something she couldn't see.

Something was rising from the bottom of the water, not bubbles, but it looked like eyeballs? Thousands upon thousands of eyeballs surfaced from the depths, crowding together beneath the surface, all watching her.

The screen tore open again.

"—!"

Her dormitory room. The curtains were drawn tightly shut, but she could feel the gaze seeping in through the fabric, through the cracks in the walls, and through every stripe in the ceiling. She pulled the blanket tighter around herself, curled up, and buried her face in her knees.

The breathing sound wasn't her own.

Something was pressed against the back of her neck, exhaling gently and slowly in perfect sync with her breathing. The breath was cold, with an indescribable smell, like disinfectant or rust.

Don't look back...

Her instincts told her not to turn back, but she did anyway.

In the darkness, she saw the faint glow of countless eyeballs. Not pairs of eyeballs, but single eyes, approaching her from all directions.

"ah--!!"

click-

A crisp snapping sound shattered the entire scene.

"what!"

Tokiwadai Junior High School cafeteria, 12:15 PM.

Misaka Mikoto suddenly opened her eyes.

The ceiling was white, and the fluorescent lights hummed steadily. The air was filled with the aroma of curry and miso soup. Students were talking in hushed tones, there was the clinking of cutlery, and the scraping of chairs against the floor as they were pulled out.

Shirai Kuroko sat opposite her, holding a cup of black tea, which hovered in mid-air. Just moments before, she had been about to bring the cup to her lips when Mikoto's scream interrupted her.

"Big sister?"

Mikoto didn't answer her. Her eyes were wide open, her pupils contracting violently, and her forehead was covered in sweat. Her fingers gripped the edge of the table tightly, her fingertips turning white. Her chest heaved violently, as if she had just run through countless corridors and climbed countless flights of stairs.

"Big sister..." Kuroko put down her teacup, her voice low and tentative, "Are you alright?"

Mikoto's shoulders were trembling.

It was a very subtle, almost imperceptible tremor. No one who wasn't with her day and night would notice it. But Shirai Kuroko wasn't "just anyone." She saw Misaka Mikoto's trembling body, the sweat stains seeping from her shirt collar, and the glistening tears in the corner of her eyes, tears of extreme fear.

"Here we go again..." Mikoto's voice was hoarse.

"Same as last night?"

"Hmm..." Mikoto raised one hand to cover her forehead, her fingertips running through her bangs, and curled up on the table.

She stopped talking because she felt it again.

In the cafeteria, sunlight streamed in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting orderly shadows on the tables and chairs. Students sat in twos and threes, eating, chatting, and reading—everything seemed perfectly normal.

But Mikoto's back was getting cold, and the feeling wasn't coming from the outside, but from the inside. It started somewhere on her spine and spread to her limbs, her neck, and her scalp.

Someone was watching her, no… not just one person, but many, many, many people.

"Big sister?"

Kuroko's voice seemed to come through a layer of water, and Mikoto slowly turned her head to look behind her.

There was nothing in that corner of the cafeteria; the walls were white, and sunlight dappled the floor. No one was there, nothing was there.

But the gaze was there, not just one, but countless. From within the walls, from beneath the floor, from the air, it pierced through her uniform, her skin, her body, pinning her to the spot.

"..."

Mikoto stood up, pushing her chair away with a screeching sound. Several students around her turned to look at her, their eyes filled with confusion and curiosity. Those were gazes, but they were different.

"Big sister, you..."

"Don't touch me..."

Mikoto's voice was very low, so low that Kuroko could barely hear it. But she saw that Mikoto's fist was clenched tightly, and electric arcs crackled at her fingertips.

"Come out..." Misaka Mikoto said these two words to the empty corner.

The conversations in the cafeteria gradually quieted down. More and more people turned to look at this person, Tokiwadai's ace and the third-ranked esper in Academy City, who was talking to thin air.

"Come out!"

An electric current exploded, blue-white arcs of electricity erupting simultaneously from Mikoto's bangs, shoulders, and arms, accompanied by a sharp, piercing sound. The nearest empty chair was swept by the arcs, and the metal part of the chair back instantly turned bright red.

Several students screamed and jumped back.

"Big Sister!"

Kuroko Shirai teleported to Mikoto's side and grabbed her wrist. An arc of electricity grazed the back of Kuroko's hand, leaving a light red mark, but she didn't let go. As a member of the Disciplinary Committee, she had dealt with countless cases of powers going out of control, but she had never encountered Tokiwadai's "Railgun" before her.

Mikoto's eyes were bloodshot; it was fear, a very pure fear born from being pushed to a certain breaking point.

"I know you've been watching..." Her voice trembled. "You've been watching since last night, from my dreams to reality... Who are you?! Show yourself!"

Her screams echoed through the cafeteria, but there was no response. The sunlight still shone quietly on the floor, and the white walls were bare. But that gaze, that gaze that made every nerve in her body scream and every inch of her skin crawl, remained.

"Big sister..."

After lunch, Shirai Kuroko didn't return to her dorm. She stood at the end of the teaching building corridor, leaning against the cold wall, the light from her phone screen reflecting on her expressionless face.

She dialed Chu Chun Shiri's number.

"Shirai-san?" A soft, sweet voice came from the other end of the phone, accompanied by the crunching sound of someone eating a snack. In the background, you could vaguely hear another person talking and the sound of flipping through a magazine. "Perfect timing! Saten-san came to the branch to hang out today, and we were just discussing what to have for lunch..."

"Early spring, help me look something up."

"Huh?" Haru's voice paused for a moment, probably sensing something unusual in Kuroko's tone, then she put down the bag of potato chips. "Okay~ What do you need me to investigate?"

"In the past month, have you received any reports of being 'monitored' or similar unusual experiences within the 7th School District? The victims are primarily teenage girls, whose symptoms include a persistent feeling of being watched, which is not relieved even when they return to their private spaces..."

"Being monitored? Reporting it to the police?" Kazari Uiharu's voice was clearly confused. "This area is a bit... Ah! Saten-san! Don't lean on my head!"

Suddenly, a rustling sound came from the other end of the phone, as if someone was moving closer to the phone. Then, Saten Ruiko's voice came through clearly:

"That one! That one! Urban legend! That's Big Brother watching you!"

On the other end of the phone, Shirai Kuroko's fingers suddenly tightened.

"What did you say?"

"Big Brother is watching you!" Saten Ruiko repeated, her speech faster than usual, tinged with barely suppressed tension. "A mysterious gaze suddenly shot into my back! I turned around, but no one was there! But I definitely felt the gaze getting closer! Soon after, the person caught in that gaze would never dare to step out of the room again... because they felt the gaze from behind the door... Even so, at some point, a girl mustered up the courage to look through the peephole... and then..."

"And then...?" X2

"Aaaaaah—!!"

While making screams like those at the beginning of a horror movie, Saten Ruiko played eerie sound effects on her MP3 player.

"Meow—!" Startled, Shiori Haru abandoned her chair and crawled under the table, curling up in a ball with her hands covering her head.

"Ha..." Shirai Kuroko was silent for three seconds, then sighed, "Please continue..."

"Huh? Aren't you scared?"

Gu Famei filed the last patrol report into a folder. When she looked up, all that was left in the branch activity room was the low hum of the air conditioner.

Saten Ruiko sat in a corner chair, flipping through a magazine, but her gaze kept drifting towards the window. Misaka Mikoto sat there, her brown bangs obscuring her eyes, her fingers unconsciously gripping the hem of Tokiwadai's school uniform skirt, her fingertips slightly white. Outside the window was the orange sky of Academy City at dusk, but she didn't look out even once.

Saten Ruiko tried to speak several times, but didn't know what to say. She secretly glanced at Kofun Miho, whose gaze was fixed on Misaka Mikoto with a hint of worry.

From the moment Misaka Mikoto walked into the branch office, Kofune Miwa could tell something was wrong with her. That forced smile, that stiff tone when changing the subject, that unfocused gaze even though she was staring at the documents on the table.

"Misaka-san." Miho Kofumi finally broke the silence and stood up from behind her desk.

Misaka Mikoto's shoulders trembled slightly, as if she had been called back from a great distance. "...What?"

"Do you want to charge it?"

Saten Ruiko tilted her head: "Charging?"

Kofumi picked up her bag and said in her usual calm tone, "There's a public bathhouse called 'Oasis' on the east side of the Seventh School District in Academy City. The water temperature is constant, the water is soft, the space is spacious, and—"

She paused, a very faint smile appearing at the corner of her mouth.

"And there shouldn't be many people today."

Misaka Mikoto finally raised her head and looked into Kofunomi's understanding eyes.

"...Senior Gu Fa, you found out?"

"I don't know," Kofumi Miwa calmly shook her head. "But since you don't want to say, then don't. Taking a bath and getting some rest is sometimes more effective than anything else. I've been to that shop many times; it's suitable for times like this."

Saten Ruiko immediately understood and clapped her hands: "Right, right, right! Misaka-senpai, let's go together! I haven't been to the public bathhouse in ages. I heard that the bathhouse at 'Oasis' has a ceiling that simulates a starry sky!"

Misaka Mikoto opened her mouth, as if to say something, but ultimately did not refuse. She nodded gently, stood up from the chair by the window, and said in a slightly hoarse voice, "...Then, let's go."

As I pushed open the glass door of the bathhouse, a wave of warm steam mixed with the scent of soap wafted out. The changing room was indeed quite empty, with only a few lockers locked.

Kofumi deftly unbuttoned the disciplinary committee member's shirt and took a pure white towel from her bag. Saten Ruiko also skillfully took off her coat, humming an unknown tune. Only Misaka Mikoto stood in front of the locker, her hand on the buttons, hesitant to move.

"Misaka-senpai?" Saten Ruiko peeked over. "What's wrong? Did you forget your towel? I have an extra one..."

"No, no..." Misaka Mikoto waved her hand hastily, and then, as if she had made up her mind, she unbuttoned her uniform in one go.

Saten Ruiko blinked but didn't press the matter.

As the three entered the bathhouse, they were greeted by a wave of warm steam. The walls were covered in light blue tiles, while the ceiling was dark, inlaid with tiny lights that resembled stars in the night sky.

The bathhouse wasn't large, but it was almost empty at this time of day. The water was calm and still, reflecting the artificial stars overhead.

Gu Famei first scooped a ladle of hot water into a wooden basin and poured it over herself to get used to the temperature, then slowly sank into the pool. She let out a comfortable sigh and folded a towel, placing it on her head.

Saten Ruiko slowly slid into the pool, the water reaching above her shoulders, leaving only her smiling face visible. She looked around the empty bathhouse and couldn't help but exclaim, "Wow, this time is perfect! It's like we have the whole place to ourselves!"

"Only Academy City would be like this." Misaka Mikoto leaned against the pool wall, looking up at the "starry sky" above her, her voice finally carrying a hint of relaxation.

Kofumi turned to look at Misaka Mikoto, a faint smile playing on her lips: "After soaking for a while, Misaka-san, do you feel a little happier than before?"

Misaka Mikoto paused for a moment, then nodded gently: "Yeah...it's definitely much better."

"That's good..." Kofumi Miwa rested her arm on the edge of the pool, her tone slightly teasing, "But Misaka-san, it's okay not to be so tense. There are only a few of us here, so you can relax a bit more."

She paused, then looked Misaka Mikoto up and down. "Could it be... that she's embarrassed because she's not fully developed?"

"N-No, that's not it!" Misaka Mikoto's face flushed red, and she instinctively sank her body deeper into the water, splashing a small spray. "I just feel... safe here, and I don't know how to react..."

A moment later, Misaka Mikoto got out of the pool, walked to the shower area, and sat down on a small stool. She turned on the tap, and hot water gushed down, steam rising in front of her.

But she didn't start washing; she just stared blankly at her hands, not moving an inch. Water droplets slid down her fingertips, splashing tiny water droplets on the tiles.

Saten Ruiko watched this scene quietly, then gently stood up. She didn't say anything, but simply picked up a bath towel and soap, walked behind Misaka Mikoto, and sat down on the bench next to her.

I lathered up the soap, then gently placed my hands on Misaka Mikoto's back, causing her shoulders to tremble slightly.

"Misaka-senpai..." Saten Ruiko's voice was soft, yet exceptionally clear amidst the rushing water.

"I've been thinking about this a lot. People like me, and Chuchun, and the students here, are able to sit here peacefully taking a bath, and live ordinary lives every day..."

Her foam-covered hands slid gently from Misaka Mikoto's shoulder down her back. "That's because Misaka-senpai is always in front, steadfastly looking ahead..."

Misaka Mikoto's back tensed up.

"So," Saten Ruiko's voice carried a hint of amusement, "at least here, put your back to me... Misaka-senpai can still just keep looking ahead and walk on, just like before."

The sound of the shower water continued for a long time. Misaka Mikoto kept her head down, her bangs covering her eyes.

"Hmm..." Her voice was a little hoarse, but no longer heavy.

Saten Ruiko laughed and continued what she was doing. Her strength was light, yet it carried a reassuring warmth, pushing away the unseen weight little by little from head to toe.

The sounds of rinsing water, the sound of foam falling off, the sound of Gufa Meiwei wringing a towel in the distance, and the quiet glow of the artificial stars overhead.

At the entrance to the changing room, a vending machine emitted a low hum. The three people changed into clean clothes and sat side by side on the bench outside. Their hair was still damp, and towels were draped over their shoulders.

Kofumi took three cans of coffee milk from the vending machine and handed two of them to Saten Ruiko and Misaka Mikoto respectively.

"Puha—!"

The three of them pulled the tab almost simultaneously. Misaka Mikoto tilted her head back and took a big gulp, then exhaled a long breath.

"I'm alive—!" Saten Ruiko pressed the cool jar against her cheek and squinted her eyes happily.

Kofumi also took a sip, then turned to look at Misaka Mikoto beside her: "How are you, Misaka-san? Feeling better?"

Misaka Mikoto held the coffee milk container in both hands, looking down at the small round hole at the opening. Then she looked up, a clear smile blooming on her face. "Hmm, feeling refreshed."

She paused, then turned to look at Saten Ruiko on the other side. "Saten-san, thank you for earlier..."

Saten Ruiko blinked, then quickly waved her hand, almost spilling the coffee milk in the jar. "Eh? What are you thanking me for? I didn't do anything..."

Kofumi looked up at the deepening night sky outside the bathhouse and took a deep breath. "Next time, I should invite Kuroko and Haru too..."

"Oh! That's a great idea!" Saten Ruiko's eyes lit up.

Kofumi placed the empty can next to the chair and stood up. "It's settled then. Make a reservation next time; if there are many people, we can book the whole place."